As self-defense instructors, is there a magical time that we become all knowing and we no longer have to train, but rather focus on teaching and passing on the wisdom we have acquired over the years? NO! this should never happen.
This seems to be a common thing among many self-defense instructors, they stop training, or their training becomes, well, lame. I’m not talking about how they train their students, but rather how they train themselves. I understand that some must stop due to physical limitation from years of hard training, but self-defense is not just physical. There are many facets to violence and training people to deal with it. There is the study of violence dynamics, mental aspects, what’s current in the world of physical violence, and much more. There are many great books, real experts online, seminars to attend, etc. the point is, as instructors, we cannot stop developing ourselves. This is easy to do when we lose sight of why we do what we do.
If you ask ten instructors why they teach self-defense, you might get ten different answers, we all have our “standard” answer and the true answer that lies in our hearts. For us, it’s about empowering people so they don’t become helpless victims to anyone. This includes physically, mentally and emotionally because self-defense involves self-defense in all these categories, as stated earlier, not all violence is physical. So, the reason we, instructors in our academy, train and continue to develop ourselves is, FOR THE STUDENTS.
We don’t train to get the admiration of others when we demo a technique. We don’t continue to learn so we sound like intellectuals to our students. Unlike many “masters” I have seen, it is not about us. It is about our students. We must be good at what we do so we can add value to our students, so we can make them better, more efficient, more knowledgeable.
Why do we train the way we do as instructors? For our students. We cannot give what we don’t have. We can only have it if we continue to develop it. We can only develop it if we continue to learn and grow by putting in the effort and hard work.
So, to all our students, we appreciate you. Keep working hard, because we will.
Remember, your life your choice, how you train matters.
Comentaris